An Inclusive Litany

7/29/92

When the Detroit public school system planned to create three all-male academies in an effort to stem urban violence and improve the educational environment for young men, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women sued. An ACLU staff attorney offered the following justification: "When both the boy and the girl are hurting, how can we focus our attention on one child over the other, solely on the basis of immutable characteristics of birth?"